5 ultimate betrayals in UFC history

#5 Randy Couture abandons the UFC

Finally, it’s a story of betrayal not between two fighters, but between one legendary fighter and the company who helped him become that legend. It’s arguable that, in the pre-Conor McGregor era, no fighter was thrown quite as many bones as Randy Couture. While it’s impossible to deny his greatness as a fighter, it’s also easy to argue that a lot of his success came from opportunities given to him by the UFC.

After all, when he was beaten for the UFC Heavyweight title by Ricco Rodriguez in 2002 – his second loss in a row – it was the UFC who then put him in with Chuck Liddell for the Interim Light-Heavyweight title in his first fight at 205lbs. And after Liddell took the Light-Heavyweight title from him in 2006 and he retired, it was the UFC who granted him an immediate Heavyweight title shot against Tim Sylvia when he decided to return in 2007.

Couture walked out on the UFC later that year in an attempt to promote a fight against PRIDE champion Fedor Emelianenko under the Affliction banner – a massively disrespectful move given his treatment by the UFC – but when that was stopped via a lawsuit, he came right back into the UFC fold and was immediately given big-time main events again against the likes of Brock Lesnar, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Mark Coleman.

When he retired for good in 2011, the UFC appeared to have buried all the bad feelings and offered Couture a job with their network partner Fox as an analyst... only for ‘Captain America’ to abandon ship again and join the UFC’s biggest competitor, Bellator MMA on Spike TV. It was the final betrayal in a laundry list of them from Couture against the company that helped him become the star he is today.

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